Veritas Liberabunt Omnes Nostri
by moonstone glows
Summary: Severus goes somewhere he promised not to go, sees something he shouldn't have seen, and does somthing he shouldn't have done, thus changing more lives than his own. SS/LM pairing, SS/HP relationship. Probable M/Preg.
1. Chapter 1

The dark haired man paced restlessly back and forth across the width of the small, book lined room, his pale face flushed with anxiety as he watched the clock desperately, his black robes swirling around him every time he spun at the end of a lap. Finally the clock chimed the quarter hour, indicating that it was eleven fifteen, and the man he urgently needed to talk to should be securely ensconced in his study now, with the doors locked against intrusion. He dropped to his knees in front of the fire, and threw in the floo powder that he had been clutching tightly for the last twenty minutes or so.

"Lord Malfoy's study, Malfoy Manor," he stated clearly, waiting impatiently for the floo call to be accepted.

"Severus, to what do I owe the…Sev, what's happened?" the cool, detached greeting faded and concern slid into the silver eyes as the aristocratic blond took in the demeanor of the other man in the fire.

"I think I've done something stupid…no, I _know _I've done something stupid, I need you Luc," he told him, voice tight with tension.

Mercury eyes studied the visibly flapped unflappable man, and the blond nodded once.

"Give me five minutes to put up the privacy wards so that _she _thinks I'm working on something confidential, and then I'll be through. I assume the password for the floo hasn't changed?"

"No, no it hasn't changed, see you soon Luc," Severus told him, before pulling back from the fire, rising to his feet, and resuming his pacing.

Precisely five minutes later, the blond stepped through gracefully, vanishing the soot from his robes with a negligent flick of his hand, feeling perfectly secure using wandless magic in front of Severus.

"All right, tell me what you've done that's got you in such a flap," Lucius told him calmly.

"It might be easier if I showed you," Severus sighed, scrubbing his hands through his hair, further disarraying it.

Lucius raised an eyebrow, but followed as Severus led him out of the small library and up the dark staircase to the upper floor. Severus pushed open the door to the spare room, the small bedroom that had once been his own, and preceded Lucius inside.

A small form lay curled up on the small single bed, breathing soft and slow in either unconsciousness or sleep.

"Severus, what…."

"I took him Luc, I shouldn't have even been there, but I was, and I saw, and I took him," Severus whispered disjointedly.

"You abducted someone's child?" Lucius asked, stepping around to get a better look at the tiny boy's face, to see if he could identify a family line, and hissed in shock.

"You abducted _Harry Potter_?" he amended numbly.

"Strictly speaking, perhaps, but…he's mine damn it, and I don't care what the hell I promised Dumbledore, or Lily either for that matter, when I saw…I couldn't leave him there, Luc, I just couldn't," he told him miserably.

Lucius closed his eyes and blew out a long breath.

"All right, first things first. Yours, you're 100% sure?"

"Yes. The day Narcissa announced she was pregnant with Draco, I got very, very drunk, Lily was out drowning her sorrows after a blazing row with Potter and his horde…I'm guessing you don't need me to spell out the rest. She knew without doubt the baby was mine because she and Potter didn't sleep together until after the wedding. She told me the truth, but made me promise never to do anything that could break up her family, especially considering my rather unfortunate affiliation with the Dark Lord at the time."

Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose and processed that for a moment, carefully putting aside the fact his lover had slept with Lily bloody Evans of all people, that wasn't important right now, especially as it seemed it had happened in reaction to Sev's assumption – erroneous but understandable – that he had slept with Narcissa and impregnated her.

"How does Dumbledore fit in?"

"I went to him _that _night, after he had been to the Hollow, I told him that Harry was mine and I wanted him. He told me it wasn't safe, that there were too many out there still loyal to the Dark Lord, that he had already made Harry safe with Lily's family under the protection of blood magic. He made me promise not to endanger Harry by going there, but he never made me swear a full oath, I guess he thought I owed him too much for getting me out of Azkaban, for vouching for me and giving me a job."

"So what made you go there today?"

"It's his birthday, his fifth birthday, and I just wanted to _see _him, to see for myself that he was safe and happy."

Lucius' eyes narrowed assessingly at the small shape under the covers with that reminder of the child's age, judging that he was small, very small, for a five year old.

"I gather that you judged that he was neither safe, nor happy, and that is why you took him?"

In answer, Severus gently pulled back the blankets covering the boy, and Lucius couldn't bite down the low growl that broke free of his iron control. He could see the child's ribs through the holes in the tatty, outlandishly large clothing, he was covered in scrapes and bruises, including what was noticeably a handprint on the side of his face, and a fast darkening black eye.

"He was outside, from when I arrived at lunchtime, to when I finally couldn't swallow it anymore and took him, after dark. That _woman_, Lily's sister, had him pulling weeds in the garden while his fat blob of a cousin lazed around, demanding sweets, bullying Harry, and deliberately getting him in trouble for this and that non-existent infraction. She didn't take him inside for a meal at any point, she wouldn't let him in even when it was raining in the early evening, and the handprint is his reward for daring to drink a little water from the garden hose."

"It gets dark at past 10 at night at this time of year. You're saying she had a five year old child slaving out in the garden for what, nine, ten hours?"

"Yes, and aside from the bruises, I have other suspicions that this is not an unusual occurrence, several times over the course of the time I was there, Dumbledore's people passed through to look in on him, and they didn't bat an eye at what they saw, so it sure as hell wasn't a shock to them."

"Have you healed any of his injuries or fed him any potions?"

"No, I thought it best to see what you had to say first."

"Good, you need to get a healer or Medi-wizard here; the injuries will need to be documented before they can be healed, for evidence, should it come to that. You're also going to need a paternity potion, it won't hold up in court, being as you're his father, but it should be sufficient to grant you at least temporary custody and get an injunction to prevent _anyone _removing him from your care, assuming of course, she didn't use a blood adoption potion on the boy?"

"She said not, she spelled his hair to make it look like Potter's, and made sure he was outside plenty so he never got pale, but she needed to do very little really, the birds nest hair and everyone's assumptions was enough while he was small, and she intended to tell him, when he was older."

"Do you have anything in writing from her confirming that?"

"I have a few letters, from while she was pregnant, and one from just after he was born with a picture in."

"Get them together, the stronger the case I can pull together, the better. You call the healer, and find the letters, don't use the paternity potion until after the healer gets here, it will add weight if they verify the potion and witness the administration. I'm going to go and draw up the papers, and call in a few favors to get them signed tonight, I'll be back as soon as I can," Lucius told him.

"What about Dumbledore?"

"Screw him, I don't care if I have to remind every member of the Wizengamot what they owe you, and half of them what they owe me, I'll make sure Dumbledore can't touch you for this. He isn't likely to find out the boy is missing tonight, but just in case, delay him and owl me, and I'll come back, finished or not."

Severus' shoulders slumped as the weight was lifted off them, and Lucius reached out to cup the side of his face lightly thumb stroking over his cheek gently.

"You're not going to be alone through this," he promised him.

"And after this? Will I be alone then?" Severus asked in a low voice.

"You didn't walk away from me after Draco; I'm sure as hell not going to walk away from you after this. You don't get rid of me that easy," Lucius told him softly, brushing a brief kiss over his lips, then he was gone.

Severus quickly tucked the blankets back around the sleeping boy, and slipped quietly out of the room to do as Lucius had instructed, leaving the door ajar in case Harry woke up and was scared or upset.

/x/

Severus was dozing fitfully in the armchair beside the fire in the library when the floo roared to life, startling him awake. He snapped his eyes open, hand reaching for his wand even before he was fully awake, but the movement was arrested when he registered Lucius stepping out, less graceful now and looking thoroughly exhausted, tired enough to actually use his wand for the first time in Merlin knew how long, to banish the soot from his robes. He winced slightly as his eyes flicked to the clock, no wonder Lucius looked wiped out, it was twenty passed four in the morning, and knowing Lucius, he had now been awake for the better part of 24 hours straight.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

Lucius waved a hand sloppily to indicate God only knew what, and flopped bonelessly into the other armchair, visibly fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Did you get everything?" he asked tiredly.

Severus pulled the file from the healer he had called out from the side of the seat where he was sitting.

"Full documentation of three years worth of injuries, and documentation that I hadn't drugged or spelled Harry to remove him from the house in Surry, he signed off on the paternity potion, and also signed off that the glass of milk, slice of toast and apple I gave him when I got him here hadn't been laced with any potions what so ever. He healed his injuries, and gave me a list for a potions regimen for him. I also found Lily's letters," he told him, holding up a slender bundle tied up in a black ribbon.

"Excellent, I got the interim custody papers, and the injunction, and they'll get a date for a full custody hearing as soon as they can, although the WCS are probably going to want to talk to Harry first," Lucius yawned, flipping a black leather folder onto the coffee table between them.

"Child Services? Why?"

"To make sure he has no objection to being here, to make sure he doesn't really want to go back to his _relatives_, but is too afraid to tell you, that kind of thing," Lucius said, smiling faintly at Severus' inelegant snort at the idea the child would be desperate to get back to his abusers.

"I also got you this," Lucius said, sounding more uncertain now as he held out a scroll tied with a green ribbon, and stamped with the seals of the Wizengamot and the Minister of Magic, when he started to unroll it.

"I know you didn't want me to throw my weight around on your behalf to get something like this, but you could trust Dumbledore then to keep you out of Azkaban, even if only in his own self interest. You're not going to have that assurance once he figures out we're going against him…." Lucius stated hesitantly.

Severus stared at the full pardon in shock for a long moment, stunned that Lucius had managed to get the requisite 80% of the Wizengamot and the Minister of Magic to ratify the document at stupid o'clock in the morning.

"You never cease to amaze me, Lucius," he said softly, allowing the scroll to roll up again, and putting it on top of the folders before getting up and walking around to the other chair.

"Thank you," he said, leaning down to kiss Lucius gently.

"Hmm, wasn't so tough, went to the Wizengamot first, they were in a late session, they would have signed over their titles to get out of there by the time I turned up, and Fudge owes me so many favors he was practically falling over himself to expunge a few of them," Lucius smirked faintly, his voice drifting and his eyes shutting slowly.

"Come on, you need to get at least a couple of hours sleep," Severus said, pulling the blond to his feet and wrapping his arms around him firmly when he almost toppled over.

"Sh'd go home, bitch'll be lookin' f'r me in the m'rning," Lucius slurred, almost unintelligible.

"Luc, you try to apparate or even floo right now, and you're going to kill yourself, I'm amazed you made it back here, you're so obviously exhausted. Tell the stupid bint you fell asleep in your office, I'll wake you up early enough to get home," he promised.

Lucius made no further attempts at to disagree, so Severus called it good and _assisted _(half carried) Lucius up the stairs and steered him into his bedroom. It took a little juggling to keep Lucius upright _and _strip him, but he had him under the covers in short order, and slipped back downstairs to lock the precious papers in the hidden safe before joining him. Within moments of climbing into the bed, Lucius was wrapped around him, drawn to his warmth, and they were both fast asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

I am impressed, genuinely and honestly impressed, I have three reveiws, 6 favorites, and 17 alerts on Chapter 1, not to mention the story has been added to a community, and according to the stats counter, NO-ONE has read it! Isn't that something else? lol (Methinks something is broken in the state of fanfiction dot net)

So, for the members of the psychic community who so enjoyed Chapter 1, I hope you greet Chapter 2 just as favorably :)

/x/x/x/

The alarm clock rang loudly at seven sharp in the morning, and Severus felt Lucius startle awake as he reached over to silence the bell.

"I hate that thing," Lucius muttered thickly, untangling his limbs from his lover and levering himself into a reluctant sitting position. His head cocked to the side suddenly.

"Did you decided to get yourself a house elf?" he asked curiously.

"Of course not, I'm not here often enough, you know that."

"Someone is in your kitchen, I can hear the cupboards, and the pans," he told the other man.

"What the…oh hell no, he's only five, surely not…weeding the garden was bad enough, but they wouldn't have him playing about with a hot stove," Severus dove out of bed and yanked on his bathrobe, padding quickly over the hall to the room where he had left Harry sleeping, but there was no sign of the boy aside from a pair of ratty looking trainers on the floor at the side of the neatly made bed.

"Dear God, they turned him into a house elf," Severus whispered, hearing Lucius come up behind him.

"Well, you have him now, and if I have anything to say about it, you'll be keeping him too, you can soon break the dreadful conditioning they imposed on the poor boy. Come on, get dressed, you don't want to leave the child alone with that demented cooker of yours for too long."

"Lucius, just because you can't operate it, it's not a sign that it's demented," Severus snorted, turning from the doorway to return to his bedroom and dress none the less.

Harry looked across warily as the two of them came into the kitchen, shifting nervously on the chair he was standing on to reach the hob.

"I'm sorry breakfast isn't on the table sir, um, sirs, I didn't mean to oversleep, honest I didn't, if you sit down it will be ready really soon," he told them, his voice trembling slightly and his green eyes wide with fear.

"Harry," Severus whispered, closing his eyes for a moment.

"It was very kind of you to make breakfast for us this morning, but you really don't need to. It isn't a task suitable for someone your age, you might burn yourself."

"Oh, I'm used to it sir, Aunt Petunia made sure I wouldn't make a fuss over a little burn," he dismissed the concern.

"Regardless, _I _do not wish to see you burned, I do not wish to see you hurt at all," he told the boy.

"Oh," Harry said in a tiny voice. His bare toes dug into the thin padding of the seat for a moment, before he looked up again.

"So what will I do to earn my keep, sir? The only other things I'm good for are cleaning, and weeding, and Aunt Petunia says I'm not really very good at those, she says I'm useless at them really, she only kept me out of duty."

Severus could hear a continuous low level growl from Lucius, fortunately too soft for the child to hear, he was scared enough as it was, he could also hear what, if he wasn't mistaken, was the sound of Lucius' claws gouging into the doorframe, he kicked him sharply in the ankle as a reminder to get control, he didn't think Lucius' other form would do much to alleviate the boy's fear, and stepped across to lift Harry off the chair, holding him easily in one arm as he moved the chair back to the kitchen table where it belonged, studiously ignoring the tremors from the scared boy's rigid muscles.

"We will talk about your tasks after you have eaten breakfast," he said, placing the boy on the chair and pushing it in to the table.

"Lucius?" Severus asked, gesturing to the pan as he took over cooking the eggs.

"No, thank you. I have to go, before she sends an elf in and realizes I'm really not there. Nice to meet you Harry, I shall meet you properly later on. Sev, I'm not going to go into the office today, should anything happen, owl or floo me at the house."

"I will, thank you Lucius."

"Anything for you," Lucius told him with a soft smile that he would never give anyone else, he left the kitchen, and moments later, Severus heard the floo.

He dished up the eggs for both of them, and put a glass of milk on the table for Harry before pouring himself some coffee.

"Eat up," he said, seeing that Harry hadn't even picked up his fork.

"I'm not allowed to eat until everyone else is finished sir, in case they want more."

"What happens if there's nothing left after everyone else is done?"

Harry shrugged and looked down at his hands in his lap.

"If I've been good, and not burnt any of the breakfast, and not watched them like the stupid mongrel I am, looking for scraps, then Aunt Petunia will give me a slice of bread to eat."

"Well here, we eat at the same time, and if either of us wants more after we're done, I can easily enough make it. Now, eat up, before it gets cold," he told Harry firmly, hating the Dursley's more by the minute.

Timidly, Harry picked up the fork, watching Severus from under his lashes the whole time, apparently convinced that he would change his mind at any moment and snatch the food away, punishing him for his cheek in thinking he was going to eat at the table like a normal person. Severus, having a fair idea what the boy was scared of, casually laid the paper beside his plate and started reading the headlines, apparently paying no attention at all to the scared boy, and carefully didn't smile when the boy lifted a small bite of the eggs to his mouth. As soon as he realized that he really was being allowed to eat this morning, Harry quickly and efficiently ate his portion and drank his milk, without showing a single hint of poor table manners.

"Would you like more, Harry?" Severus asked calmly, he had given the boy a very small portion, not having any idea how long he had been starved for, and when the last time was that he had eaten before Severus gave him the small snack when he arrived the night before.

"No, thank you sir," Harry shook his head slightly, he felt a little over full from what he had already eaten, but wasting food was a sure way to make sure that he wouldn't get any more that day.

"Very well," Severus drained his coffee and then rested his forearms on the table, looking at the boy over his steepled fingers.

Harry instantly started to squirm, his eyes flashing to the doors, checking for escape routes, and Severus mentally slapped himself, this particular scared child was not one of his students, and he was going to need to be very careful not to treat him as if he were. He forced himself to relax his posture in an effort to look less intimidating before turning his attention back to Harry.

"Harry, do you understand what's happening?" he asked quietly.

"You took me away because I said yes when you asked, because you knew my mummy and said she would be very cross that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon weren't nicer to me," he said in a little voice.

Extremely basic, but acceptable; Severus nodded.

"What did _they _tell you about your parents?"

"That they were useless wastes of space, just like me, and they died in a car crash, because they were drunks," Harry told him with the air of someone repeating something they had heard many, many times.

"_That _is a bare faced _lie_," Severus hissed, unable to keep the anger out of his tone, making Harry flinch away from him. Severus took a deep breath to calm himself and looked back at the shaking child. Much as it galled him to be in a position where he had to defend the character of the much hated James Potter, he wasn't going to let that evil untruth stand, Harry might be his genetically, but Potter had been his father for the first 18 months of his life.

"Your parents were incredibly brave people Harry; they stood up to a very evil man who had done a lot of harm to a lot of people. They were heroes, and they died protecting you from that evil man, they died trying to make sure that you, and others like you would have a chance at a safe life."

"They were…good?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"They were _very _good."

"They weren't evil freaks who left good people saddled with their useless freak spawn because they got their stupid selves killed?"

"Harry, the only evil ones were your Aunt and Uncle, for telling you such wicked lies, for treating you so appallingly, and neither you nor your parents were, or are, _freaks_. That is a disgraceful thing to call another person, and I fully intend to fight tooth and nail to make sure you never have to go back to that house again."

Harry looked up in horror, his eyes widening in fright.

"But I have to go back. If I don't do my chores, they'll be so mad. I won't get _any _food, and they'll lock me in my cupboard for a week, and I'll get even further behind…."

"Harry, do you really _want _to go back?"

"Well, no, but…"

"No buts Harry, my friend who was here before, Lucius, he got some papers signed last night which means that no-one can make you go back to those people for right now, if you don't _want _to, and he's going to work very hard with me to make sure it stays that way permanently, if you want that."

"But what would I _do _here? How will I earn my keep if you won't let me cook, and I'm no good at cleaning or gardening?" Harry asked warily.

"Harry, you're a small boy, they had no business what so ever making you _earn your keep_. What you will be expected to do here is keep your own room tidy, and pay close attention to your lessons, and perhaps occasionally help _me _in the garden if I'm doing something I think will particularly interest you, or something particularly germane to your lessons."

"Ger…what?" Harry asked in confusion, before instantly flinching back again, a question, he had _questioned _this man.

"Germane, it means useful, or connected to, so something useful or connected to your lessons," Severus explained, after a moment, he leaned forward slightly.

"Harry, I will promise you this now, I will never raise my hand to you, to _any _child for that matter, I know what it is to be punished for things you have not done, to be struck for no reason. Punishments will be pertinent…will fit…with the rule you have broken, and rules will be laid out clearly, they will not change without warning. You will also most certainly _not _be punished for asking a question, asking questions is how you _learn_," he assured him.

He could see that the boy wasn't entirely convinced by his assurance; it would take him more than one day to earn the child's trust fully.

"What lessons?" Harry asked, testing the waters tentatively.

"The usual, reading, writing, some mathematics, perhaps a little Magical theory…" his sentence slammed to a halt as Harry literally threw himself off his chair and dived under the table, cowering against the wall that the end butted on to.

"Harry?" he asked, shocked; he had no idea what he could possibly have said to set the boy off.

"Bad word, not allowed to use that word," Harry was muttering over and over, his arms protectively over his head.

"What's a bad word? What is it Harry?"

Terrified green eyes looked at him tearfully, almost accusingly.

"The bad word…even _Dudley _got spanked by Uncle Vernon for saying that word."

"Harry, I swear to you, there were _no _bad words in anything I said, so there are _no _words you could possibly get into trouble for repeating. You need to tell me what word frightened you," he told Harry, although he had a bloody good idea what word it was all of a sudden, given Petunia's almost rabid jealousy of Lily's magic when they were growing up.

"M…magic," Harry whispered hurriedly, softly, terrified someone else would hear him using the word.

"Why is that a bad word Harry?"

"It's _evil_, people who believe in it go to _hell_, even saying that word is a disgusting sin."

"No, Harry. That is another of their _lies_. Come here, I want to show you something," he held a hand out to the boy, searching his mind for the most innocuous, basic spell he could demonstrate to the boy.

Harry skittered out from under the table nervously, slowly taking the proffered hand, and Severus guided him back into his chair before carrying the dishes to the sink.

"Now, watch," Severus pulled his wand from his sleeve, and flicked it at the sink remembering to incant the spell aloud where he wouldn't normally bother.

Harry jumped as the dishes started to wash themselves, and then hopped off the chair, pulled it over to the sink and studied the dancing dishes closely.

"Oh, but…"

"But?"

"It's just like when my toy soldiers danced for me, when I was locked in my cupboard at Christmas."

"Yes, it's just like that, it isn't evil, it isn't hurting anyone, it is just something that we can do that people like them cannot. People like them who _know _of magic but cannot do it are often severely jealous, it makes them angry. This is why we, people who can do magic, keep it secret from people who cannot," he told him, keeping a tight lid on his anger, he could rage later _'locked in his cupboard at Christmas'_ indeed, he was going to strangle Albus with his own bloody beard. Harry still flinched visibly both times he used the word magic, but he was too curious watching the dishes to dive for cover again.

"I could really stay here?" Harry asked, still not looking away from the sink.

"If you want to, yes."

"I'd never have to go back there?"

"Not if Lucius and I have anything to do with it, no."

"I'd like that, please," Harry said in a little voice.

"Good, then come back and sit down so that we can finish talking."

Harry slowly pulled his chair back to the table and climbed back up.

/x/

Lucius had managed to make it from his study to his rooms to shower and change before running into his 'family', but his luck ran out when he was on his way back down to the study to get some work done on the case for Severus.

"Where were you all night?" Narcissa demanded, Draco standing behind her like a pale, blond shadow.

"Working, you might wish to try it some time Narcissa."

"What could you possibly be working on that took all night?"

"Still struggling with the concept of confidentiality and privacy, my dear? That does surprise me, considering…." he trailed off delicately, his eyes flicking quickly, pointedly to the boy trailing behind her, and her eyes widened in shock, he had never come so close before to outright saying that he knew that Draco wasn't his.

"Now, did you want something, Narcissa?"

"Mariel Zabini has invited Draco and myself to spend the remainder of the summer at their lake house in Geneva. I…would you mind terribly if we went?" she asked, rattled enough to change the demand she had been about to make into a request.

"Not at all, I suppose you want your allowance increased for the period. I will contact Gringotts and have them increase the weekly deposit into your personal vault," he told her, walking away and shutting himself back up in his study, relieved at the thought that he would be rid of them for the next few weeks while he helped to make sure that Severus kept his son. He knew they likely didn't have long now before Dumbledore found out the boy was gone from the despicable muggles he had left the child with, and they needed to be ready for a fight, if it came to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Just one warning, mentions of past miscarriage during the slightly angsty conversation between Lucius and Severus.

/x/x/x/

Severus spent a quiet day with Harry, after they had finished their talk, showing him around the house, and garden, allowing him to get used to Severus' presence, and generally trying to get him to feel as relaxed here as he possibly could, given the environment that Harry had been pulled from. The list of dark curses he wanted to use against the Dursleys was starting to grow exponentially, and if he didn't think that even Lucius would have trouble keeping him out of Azkaban for doing it, he would have already gone there and used every single one of them.

Harry had been stunned, and almost terrifyingly grateful, to be given not only a second meal, a simple tuna sandwich at lunchtime, but a third too, at tea time; he had been amazed that the water in the shower came in any temperature other than frigidly cold, and had asked in the tiniest, most secretive of whispers if that was a _magic _thing too; but the hardest to get past by far was what had happened when it came time to put him to bed, he had gone to settle down for the night in the small, empty walk in wardrobe, it had taken Severus fifteen minutes to convince him that the whole room, _including _the bed, was for him, and the wardrobe was for the clothes he was going to get him, not for him to sleep in. Whenever Harry had mentioned being locked in his cupboard, he had assumed it was a sickeningly draconian punishment, not that it had been his room, where he was imprisoned every moment he wasn't slaving for them.

He was sitting in his chair in the library now, an untouched glass of fire-whisky on the table in front of him, fuming as he stared into the flames. He couldn't believe that Albus had _promised _him that Harry would be safe where he had put him, and then left him in _hell_ for three years. He hoped for the old man's sake that he hadn't done it deliberately, that he hadn't lied to him about Harry's situation, that he had somehow missed something in the reports that were being given to him, because if it transpired that Dumbledore had known the kind of life Harry was living, then not even the threat of Azkaban would stop him from killing the headmaster. The floo sprang to life, and he looked over, one hand on his wand, but it was only Lucius.

"Managed to slip your shackles so early?" he asked idly.

"They didn't need slipping, my shackles, both sets, have gone to Geneva with the widow Zabini."

"Widow, again?"

"Again. How did things go today?" he asked, picking up Severus' glass and sipping from it as he seated himself on the table, so as not to have the entire width of the fireplace between them.

"I want to kill people Luc, I want to make people suffer for what they did to him. He was told his parents died worthless drunks, he was kept in a _cupboard,_ like a broom or mop, he was scared out of his mind of the word magic, thought that it was evil, sinful, to say it, believe in it. How could _anyone _do that to a child Lucius?"

"I don't know Severus, I really don't, even the worst of the Dark Lord's followers never tortured a child thus. I brought some clothes that Draco has outgrown, they will be a little large on him, but nowhere near as outlandishly so as the rags _they _gave him," he told him, putting a leather satchel on the floor by his feet.

"Thank you, I was thinking I would have to transfigure him something to wear to take him out shopping for clothes."

"Anything from Dumbledore?"

"Not yet, he may not be aware that Harry isn't in Surry any more yet, they apparently could keep him locked in his cupboard for days on end when they were punishing him for something, so the watchers may not think anything of him not appearing for a day or two."

"We can hope. With a little luck, the WCS will have managed to come and speak to Harry before he notices and starts looking for him, so that we'll also have their report for the files, not that we'll let him take Harry anyway, but the more roadblocks we can put up, the better."

"Would you not rather I just killed the old fool?"

"Hmm, would I rather have my lover in Azkaban for killing the venerated leader of the light? Much as I think my former _master _might prefer that option,_ I _prefer my lover free," he smirked, sneering on the word master.

"True, I suppose. I doubt there would be conjugal visits for those awaiting the Kiss."

"They're not encouraged, no," Lucius agreed with faint humor.

"I'm sorry I never told you," Severus sighed, all traces of humor dropping from his tone as he looked away from Lucius' penetrating quicksilver gaze.

"It doesn't matter, besides, there's something I never told you, too," Lucius snorted softly.

"What?"

"Draco isn't mine, I've suspected for most of his life, and known for over a year that he isn't mine," he sighed.

"What? How? He's the spitting image of you, and his coloring is definitely from the Malfoy line."

"Well, either she spread her legs for my father, an image which quite frankly makes me cringe, or she slept with someone else and used a blood adoption potion. I can tell for sure he isn't mine, although admitting exactly how I know would likely be suicide," Lucius said wryly.

"He's human?" Severus whispered.

"Thoroughly, which means his father was human. If there had been any creature blood at all in the father, then even the cheapest blood adoption potion would have allowed through some of the non human aspects of my blood. Six months ago, I even took a sample of his blood to the Enclave, in France, to be sure it wasn't just a delay in the creature blood showing through, he tested human."

"I'm sorry," Severus told him genuinely.

"I'm not, I would never have been able to get her pregnant anyway," Lucius shrugged.

"What?"

"They strong armed me into getting a proper medical when I was there, my semen showed completely sterile. They told me I must have been pregnant at some point, even if I never knew it, and that set my body permanently into _carrier_ mode, long enough ago that there was no hint I had _ever_ been viably fertile from a human point of view."

"Oh Salazar," Severus breathed, closing his eyes against one of the worst memories of his life.

He would never forget that day, the most brutal Slytherin/Gryffindor Quidditch match he had ever had the misfortune to see, watching Lucius slammed 'accidentally' into one of the goalposts by Black. He would never forget waiting for him outside the locker rooms, and seeing him pale, sickly looking, would never forget Lucius collapsing on the way back to the common room, and would most definitely never forget holding him, comforting him as best he could, in an abandoned classroom, while Lucius suffered through the painful cramps of miscarrying the baby they hadn't even known he was carrying. They had barely been sixteen, he could have only been three or four weeks pregnant at the most, but it didn't make the pain any easier to bear, and they were too terrified to tell the school medi-witch what had happened, afraid of word of Lucius' non-human blood getting out, something not even his own father knew about. The best they had been able to do was get him painkillers, citing his Quidditch injuries.

"We were bloody lucky back then you know," Severus said softly, opening his eyes again to look at Lucius in the flickering light of the fire.

"I know," Lucius nodded, he had flicked through some of the pregnancy books Narcissa had taken great pleasure in leaving lying around when she was pregnant with Draco, he knew that he could potentially have gotten very, very sick, maybe even died, from not getting proper medical care after he lost the baby.

"What are you going to do about Draco?" Severus asked.

"I'm not sure yet. The Enclave gave me a clean bill of health, other than being technically infertile, so potentially you and I could give young Harry siblings, and our child, children, would be true Malfoy heirs, I could even name Harry as my successor, as you are my _chosen_ partner, and Harry is your son," he shrugged.

"You can't really think Narcissa would sit back and let you do that?"

"Well, not willingly, no. I let it be known to her today that I knew Draco wasn't mine, she must have a clue that I know of her other infidelities too, I could make life _very _difficult for her, if it ever came to it. She has breached the marriage contract, repeatedly."

"As have you," Severus pointed out.

"No, I haven't, you must remember the kind of man my father was Severus, there's no way he would word a contract in such a way that the Malfoy heir or Lord couldn't go and sleep with anyone and everyone he chose. I doubt he would have intended the protection to mean I could continue my relationship with you for so long, but that's his look out, not mine."

Severus snorted softly at that, Abraxas had been an asshole, and aside from selling his son into servitude to the Dark Lord, he had been _determined_ that he would break up the relationship between Lucius and Snape if it killed him. Fortunately for them the man had caught Dragon Pox and died before his attempts to split them apart had gotten too out of hand, but he had come close once or twice.

"Well, be careful, a cornered cat has sharp claws," Severus warned.

"So do I," Lucius pointed out flatly, draining the glass and rising.

"I should go, I could do with catching up on some sleep," he sighed.

"Stay," Severus said softly, catching his wrist.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lucius asked, glancing upwards in the direction of the room where Harry should be sleeping.

"I don't know, but I want you with me, please stay Luc," he stood up, using his hold on Lucius' wrist to pull him closer so that he could kiss him.

"Stay," Severus murmured again, and Lucius groaned softly and deepened the kiss.

/x/

Harry sat on the edge of his bed, stroking the covers lightly every now and then, still awed that he actually had a bed, a whole room, all to himself. He wasn't sure what he should do now though, he had been told not to cook breakfast, his room was already tidy, and he hadn't had any lessons yet to study. He heard the other door across the hall open, and thinking that Severus might be up, he hopped off the bed and trotted over to the door, smiling at the dark haired man.

"Good morning Harry, you're up early. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you sir," Harry nodded.

"You can call me Severus, remember, Harry."

Harry nodded, still not certain about the idea of calling the man by his first name.

"My friend Lucius was here last night, he brought some clothes for you that were too small now for his son, until we have a chance to go shopping. They will be a touch big for you, but that's nothing we can't deal with. Why don't you go and wash, and I'll fetch the bag."

"Will I get to meet his son, si…Severus?"

"Possibly, at some point, he's away with his mother for the rest of the summer."

"Oh, that's sad," Harry frowned slightly, Severus said nothing, he didn't think Harry would understand if he gave in to his first instinct to comment that Lucius had been glad to see the back of them.

Once he had got Harry dressed in the designer label jeans and shirt that looked like they had never been worn, and shrunk them down to fit properly, much to Harry's delight – he could never remember having clothes that _fit_ before – he took him downstairs to make breakfast, and raised an eyebrow at the house-elf puttering around his kitchen.

"Hello?" he asked uncertainly, putting a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder as the boy hid behind him in fright, he knew it was one of Lucius' elves, he just didn't know what it was doing here, the blond hadn't mentioned anything about sending one when he had left at dawn to get into his office in the Ministry.

"Sits down please sirs, breakfasts is almost ready. Lord Malfoy sends Mipsy to keeps Master Harry company ifs Master Severus has to leaves suddenly. Mipsy is also to tells Lord Malfoy ifs Master Severus has to leaves."

Severus nodded, silently thanking Lucius for thinking about having Harry kept safe should Albus summon him in the next day or two. He sat with Harry at the table, and looked at the wide eyed boy.

"It's all right Harry, Mipsy won't hurt you."

"But what…who…"

"Mipsy is a house-elf, a lot of magical families, especially the older families with very big houses, have house elves to look after their families, and homes. They take care of duties like cooking and cleaning, some are very good gardeners, and others are even nannies to the children."

"Like me, with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked, and Severus mentally winced, he should have seen that one coming.

"No, not like you," Severus sighed, wondering how to field this one.

"But I did cooking, and cleaning, and the garden…"

"House elves is having special magics to be helping us with our tasks Master Harry, House elves be liking taking care of the wizards," Mipsy told him, snapping her fingers, instantly the food she had made was on the plates in front of them, and the pans were washing themselves.

"Wizards is only being able to do one spell at a time, and little wizards like yous not being able to do whole spells at alls, easier and quicker for us to do it, and unless we is bads, we has home with our wizards always."

"Bad?" Harry asked.

"House elves and Wizards has rules, biggest rule is House elves is not betraying our Masters, we hears things and sees things that sometimes it coulds be very bads for our Masters to tells other peoples."

"Oh, um, thank you, Mipsy," Harry said hesitantly.

"Master Harry is goods little Master," Mipsy chirped, snapping her fingers again to return the now washed pans to their cupboards and vanishing off heaven only knows where.

"Do you have any other concerns or questions, Harry?" Severus asked as they started eating.

"No, um yes, um…who is Lord Malfoy, and why would he send Mipsy here?" Harry asked in confusion.

Severus gave him a puzzled look, and then realized that Harry had _still _not properly been introduced to Lucius, something they were going to have to rectify pretty soon, and that he had never used any name other than Lucius to refer to him.

"Lucius, Lord Malfoy is Lucius, and he sent Mipsy here in case the man I work for finds out you're not in Surry any more, and sends for me to help look for you, I wouldn't be able to take you with me, not until Lucius and I can get the custody of you secured, so Mipsy will watch over you if that happens."

"Ok," Harry said slowly, and Severus knew there would be more questions at some point about why the man he worked for would be looking for Harry, and why Severus wouldn't tell the man he worked for that he _had_ Harry, but hopefully those questions wouldn't come before they had the answers, whatever the answers might be.


End file.
